Google Wave Take Two - Google Shared Spaces
Google Wave is one of the products from 2010 that was greatly misunderstood. It was launched at Google I/O 2009 for developers, released to the general public in May 2010, shut down in August, and moved to the Apache Foundation a bit after. Having worked on one of the launch gadgets, I still believe that it's a good product albeit ahead of its time. After the problem of "none of my friends are on it" was solved, the blank page was a conundrum to most people. The open space emboldens the adventurous to fill it while paralyzing some with fear that they are doing "it" wrong.
Google Shared Spaces is a reining in of that ability to freely roam by centering the experience around individual gadgets. After finding a gadget you like, you can create a space hosting that gadget with built-in chat. If you aren't signed into an account, you are able to use your Google, Twitter, or Yahoo credentials. That way you don't have to create a new account to try out the service lowering the barrier to entry.
I can't say for certain but it looks like when you try to add a gadget that it isn't automatically added. I would think that is to make sure it is properly formatted and isn't malicious.
I do like this evolution of the service and am looking forward to Shared Spaces being a Chrome OS app. I don't know that it will displace many apps but for collaboration around a single event, focus, or idea, it could prove to be clutch.